System and method for obtaining media content for a portable media player

ABSTRACT

A system and method are provided for enabling a portable media player to obtain media content from secondary systems, such as other portable media players, via local wireless communication. In general, the portable media player stores proxy information identifying the media content of a number of media files in the user&#39;s media collection rather than the media files themselves. When a secondary system is within a local wireless coverage area of the portable media player, the proxy information for the media files, or a subset thereof, is provided to the secondary system. In response, the secondary system identifies media files stored by the secondary system having media content matching the media content identified by the proxy information. The secondary system then provides a notification of the identified media files to the portable media player, which may then obtain the identified media files from the secondary system.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/233,871, filed Sep. 19, 2008, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 11/403,595, filed Apr. 13, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No.7,444,388, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by referenceherein in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for obtaining mediacontent for a portable media player, and more specifically relates to asystem and method enabling a portable media player to obtain mediacontent corresponding to media content in the user's media collectionfrom secondary systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The past few years have given rise to a proliferation of portable mediaplayers, such as Apple's iPod devices and MP3 players. In order totransfer media content, such as songs, to the portable media players,the portable media players are typically attached to associated desktopcomputers, and song files are transferred from the desktop computer tothe portable media player. The storage space available on the portablemedia players varies significantly. For example, some media players mayhave 512 megabytes (MB) of storage space while others may have 60gigabytes (GB) of storage space. In comparison, the media collections ofthe users, which are stored on the associated desktop computers, mayrequire anywhere from a few hundred megabytes to several hundredgigabytes of storage space. Thus, it is not uncommon for a user's mediacollection stored on his or her desktop computer to be larger than thestorage capacity of the user's portable media player. As such, the usermust typically select a subset of his or her media collection to storeon his or her portable media player at any given time.

The issue that results from the above scenario is that the user mustreconnect the user's portable media player to his or her desktopcomputer each time media content from his or her media collection isdesired. If the user is away from his or her desktop computer, which istypically the case, the user is unable to acquire media content from hisor her media collection. Thus, there is a need for a system and methodenabling a portable media player to obtain media content from the user'smedia collection without reconnecting the portable media player to anassociated user system, such as a desktop computer, storing the user'smedia collection.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system and method enabling a portablemedia player to obtain media content from secondary systems, such asother portable media players, via local wireless communication. Ingeneral, the portable media player stores proxy information identifyingthe media content of a number of media files in the user's mediacollection rather than the media files themselves. The portable mediaplayer is equipped with a local wireless interface. When a secondarysystem, such as another portable media player, is within a localwireless coverage area of the portable media player, the proxyinformation for the media files, or a subset thereof, is provided to thesecondary system. In response, the secondary system identifies mediafiles stored by the secondary system having media content matching themedia content identified by the proxy information. The secondary systemthen provides a notification of the identified media files to theportable media player, which may then obtain the identified media filesfrom the secondary system. As a result, the portable media player isenabled to obtain media content corresponding to media content from theuser's media collection without access to the associated user systemstoring the user's media collection.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope of the presentinvention and realize additional aspects thereof after reading thefollowing detailed description of the preferred embodiments inassociation with the accompanying drawing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part ofthis specification illustrate several aspects of the invention, andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system enabling a portable media player to obtainmedia content corresponding to media content in the user's mediacollection from secondary systems according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of the system of FIG. 1 to identify themedia content of the media files forming the user's media collection;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary synchronization process between theportable media player and associated user system wherein proxyinformation representing media files from the user's media collectionare provided to the portable media player according to one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates the operation of the portable media player toestablish local wireless communication with secondary devices within alocal wireless coverage area of the portable media player according toone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates the interaction of the portable media player and asecondary system, such as another portable media player, to obtain mediafiles having media content corresponding to media content in the user'smedia collection using the proxy information according to one embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates the interaction of the portable media player and asecondary system, such as another portable media player, to obtain mediafiles having media content corresponding to media content in the user'smedia collection using the proxy information according to anotherembodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 7A-7D illustrate an exemplary graphical user interface for theportable media player of FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of theportable media player of FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of theassociated user system of FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of thecentral system of FIG. 1 according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments set forth below represent the necessary information toenable those skilled in the art to practice the invention and illustratethe best mode of practicing the invention. Upon reading the followingdescription in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilledin the art will understand the concepts of the invention and willrecognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressedherein. It should be understood that these concepts and applicationsfall within the scope of the disclosure and the accompanying claims.

The present invention provides a system and method enabling a portablemedia player to obtain media content from secondary systems, such asother portable media players, via local wireless communication. Ingeneral, the portable media player stores proxy information identifyingthe media content of a number of media files in the user's mediacollection rather than the media files themselves. The portable mediaplayer is equipped with a local wireless interface. When a secondarysystem, such as another portable media player, is within a localwireless coverage area of the portable media player, the proxyinformation for the media files, or a subset thereof, is provided to thesecondary system. In response, the secondary system identifies mediafiles stored by the secondary system having media content matching themedia content identified by the proxy information. The secondary systemthen provides a notification of the identified media files to theportable media player, which may then obtain the identified media filesfrom the secondary system. As a result, the portable media player isenabled to obtain media content corresponding to media content from theuser's media collection without access to the associated user systemstoring the user's media collection.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 10 enabling a portable media player 12 toobtain media content corresponding to media content in the user's mediacollection from secondary systems according to one embodiment of thepresent invention. In general, the system 10 includes the portable mediaplayer 12, an associated user system 14, and a central system 16. Theassociated user system 14 is communicatively coupled to the centralsystem 16 via a network 18, which is preferably a distributed, publicaccess network, such as the Internet. The portable media player 12 maybe any portable device having media player capabilities. For example,the portable media player 12 may be an Apple iPod, MP3 player, or thelike, or a mobile terminal such as a mobile telephone, Personal DigitalAssistant (PDA), or the like having media player capabilities. Theportable media player 12 may be enabled to play audio content such assongs, video content such as movies or television programs, or bothaudio and video content.

The portable media player 12 generally includes a synchronization engine20, a networking function 22, an automation function 24, and a storageunit 26. The synchronization engine 20 may be implemented in hardware,software, or a combination of hardware and software and operates tointeract with the user system 14 when the portable media player 12 iscommunicatively coupled, or docked, to the user system 14 to perform asynchronization process. The portable media player 12 may be docked tothe user system 14 using either a wired interface or local wirelessinterface. For example, a wired interface may be a Universal Serial Bus(USB) or Firewire interface. A local wireless interface may be awireless interface operating according to the Bluetooth standard, theZigbee standard, one of the suite of IEEE 802.11 standards, or the like.As discussed below, during the synchronization process, media files maybe transferred from the user system 14 to the portable media player 12,proxy information may be transferred from the user system 14 to theportable media player 12, or both media files and proxy information maybe transferred from the user system 14 to the portable media player 12.

The networking function 22 may be implemented in hardware, software, ora combination of hardware and software and operates to establish localwireless communication with secondary systems within a local wirelesscoverage area of the portable media player 12, as discussed below inmore detail. In general, the networking function 22 operates toestablish an ad-hoc local wireless network with secondary devices withina local wireless coverage area of the portable media player 12.

The automation function 24 may be implemented in hardware, software, ora combination of hardware and software. In general, the automationfunction 24 operates to automate the process of obtaining media filesfrom secondary systems, such as other portable media players or usersystems other than the user system 14 according to the presentinvention. More specifically, as discussed below, the portable mediaplayer 12 stores proxy information for each of a number of media filesfrom the user's media collection. In general, the proxy informationrepresents the media files from the user's media collection. Theautomation function 24 operates based on either default or user definedtriggers and actions. The triggers and actions may be defined for eachmedia file represented by the proxy information, for a number of groupsof media files represented by the proxy information, or generallydefined for all media files represented by the proxy information. Thetriggers may be detecting a secondary device having a matching mediafile stored thereon and, optionally, docking the portable media player12 to the user system 14. The actions may be automatically downloadingmatching media files from secondary systems; automatically requestingthe matching media files be streamed from the secondary systems to theportable media player 12; or notifying the user of the portable mediaplayer 12 of matching media files found on secondary systems, whereinthe user will select whether to download matching media files from thesecondary systems or to have the matching media files streamed to theportable media player 12 from the secondary systems.

The storage unit 26 may be any digital storage device or combination ofstorage devices such as, but not limited to, one or more hard-discdrives; one or more removable memory devices such as Compact FlashCards; or the like. The storage unit 26 operates to store a mediadatabase 28 and a proxy information database 30. Note that while thedatabases 28 and 30 are illustrated separately for clarity, the presentinvention is not limited thereto. The contents of the databases 28 and30 may be stored in the storage unit 26 in any desired manner.

The media database 28 operates to store a number of media files. Themedia files may have been transferred to the portable media player 12during a previous synchronization process with the user system 14 or,according to the present invention, from a secondary system during alocal wireless communication session, as discussed below in detail. Themedia files include media content, such as songs, videos, or the like,where the media content may be encoded according to a standard such asthe Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) Layer 3 (MP3) standard, theAdvanced Audio Coding (AAC) standard, one of the MPEG video standards,the Audio Video Interleave (AVI) standard, or the like. In addition, themedia files may include metadata describing the media content of themedia files. For example, for an MP3 media file, the media file mayinclude ID3 tags including information identifying the artist, album,genre, release date, lyrics, and the like for the media content of themedia file.

The proxy information database 30 operates to store proxy informationtransferred to the portable media player 12 during a synchronizationprocess with the user system 14. Note that while the proxy informationdatabase 30 is referred to as a “database,” the present invention is notlimited thereto. The proxy information may be stored in memory or otherdigital storage device of the portable media player 12 in any desiredmanner. For example, the proxy information may be stored as one or morefiles. The proxy information represents a number of media files from theuser's media collection. Proxy information may be stored in the proxyinformation database 30 for all or a portion of the media files in theuser's media collection. In general, for each media file represented byproxy information, the proxy information includes an identifier, such asa Globally Unique Identifier (GUID), identifying the media content ofthe media file and, optionally, information identifying the encodingalgorithm and one or more quality parameters for the media file. Thequality parameters may vary depending on the encoding algorithm. Forexample, for a song encoded according to the MP3 standard, the qualityparameters may include bit rate, sampling frequency, and the like.

The user system 14 may be a personal computer or the like associatedwith the portable media player 12. In general, the user system 14includes a media identification client 32, a synchronization engine 34,and a storage unit 36. The media identification client 32 may beimplemented in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware andsoftware. As discussed below in more detail, the media identificationclient 32 provides identification parameters such as, but not limitedto, fingerprints, samples, metadata, file name, directory name, and thelike for each media file in the user's media collection stored in thestorage unit 36 to the central system 16, wherein the central system 16attempts to identify the media content of the media files based on theidentification parameters. Once the media content of the media files isidentified, the media identification client 32 generates proxyinformation representing each of the media files. As stated above, foreach media file, the proxy information includes an identifier, such as aGUID, identifying the media content of the media file and, optionally,information identifying the encoding algorithm and one or more qualityparameters for the corresponding media file.

The synchronization engine 34 may be implemented in hardware, software,or a combination of hardware and software. The synchronization engine 34communicates with the synchronization engine 20 of the portable mediaplayer 12 when the portable media player 12 is docked to the user system14 to effectuate a synchronization process. During the synchronizationprocess, media files may be transferred from the user system 14 to theportable media player 12, proxy information may be transferred from theuser system 14 to the portable media player 12, or both media files andproxy information may be transferred from the user system 14.

The storage unit 36 may be any digital storage device or combination ofstorage devices such as, but not limited to, one or more hard-discdrives, or the like. The storage unit 36 operates to store a mediacollection database 38 and a proxy information database 40. Note thatwhile the databases 38 and 40 are illustrated separately for clarity,the present invention is not limited thereto. The contents of thedatabases 38 and 40 may be stored in the storage unit 36 in any desiredmanner.

The media collection database 38 operates to store a number of mediafiles forming the user's media collection. The media files may have beenobtained from an original source such as, but not limited to, a CompactDisc (CD), a Digital Video Disc (DVD), an online service such as Apple'siTunes, a Personal Video Recorder (PVR), or the like. The media filesinclude media content, such as songs, movies, television programs, orthe like, where the media content may be encoded according to a standardsuch as the MP3 standard, the AAC standard, one of the MPEG videostandards, the AVI standard, or the like. In addition, the media filesmay include metadata describing the media content of the media files.For example, for an MP3 media file, the media file may include ID3 tagsincluding information identifying the artist, album, genre, releasedate, lyrics, and the like for the media content of the media file.

The proxy information database 40 operates to store the proxyinformation generated by the media identification client 32. Note thatwhile the proxy information database 40 is referred to as a “database,”the present invention is not limited thereto. The proxy information maybe stored in memory or other digital storage device associated with theuser system 14 in any desired manner. For example, the proxy informationmay be stored as one or more files. As stated above, the proxyinformation database 40 stores proxy information representing each ofthe media files in the user's media collection. For each media file, theproxy information includes an identifier, or GUID, identifying the mediacontent of the media file and, optionally, information identifying theencoding algorithm and one or more quality parameters for the mediafile.

The central system 16 operates to identify the media content of themedia files in the user's media collection. In general, the centralsystem 16 includes a media identification application 42. The mediaidentification application 42 may be implemented in hardware, software,or a combination of hardware and software. The media identificationapplication 42 operates to identify the media content of the media filesin the user's media collection stored at the user system 14 and assigncorresponding identifiers, or GUIDs, to the media files. Morespecifically, the user system 14 provides identification parameters suchas, but not limited to, metadata, such as ID3 tags, describing the mediacontent of the media files; fingerprints of the media content of themedia files; samples of the media content of the media files; filenames; directory names; or the like or any combination thereof. Inresponse, the media identification application 42 attempts to identifythe media content of the media files based on the identificationparameters.

For media files having media content identified by the mediaidentification application 42, corresponding GUIDs identifying the mediacontent of the media files are provided to the user system 14. Asdiscussed above, the GUIDs are used to generate the proxy informationfor the media files. It should be noted that while the GUIDs are thepreferred method of identifying the media content of the media files inthe user's media collection, the present invention is not limitedthereto. Any identifier may be used.

As stated above, the network 18 is preferably a distributed, publicaccess network, such as the Internet, wherein the user system 14 and thecentral system 16 are capable of interacting with and through thenetwork 18 using various protocols such as the Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Hypertext Transport Protocol(HTTP), and File Transfer Protocol (FTP). However, those of ordinaryskill in the art will appreciate that the network 18 is not limited tothereto. More specifically, the network 18 may be any type of networksuitable to allow interaction between the user system 14 and the centralsystem 16. For example, the network 18 may be a wired network, awireless network, or a combination thereof. Further, the network 18 mayinclude a distributed computing network, an intranet, a local-areanetwork (LAN), and/or a wide-area network (WAN), or any combinationthereof.

FIG. 2 illustrates the operation of the system 10 of FIG. 1 to identifythe media content of the media files in the user's media collectionaccording to one embodiment of the present invention. In general, theprocess begins when the user system 14 registers with the central system16 (step 100). During the registration process, the user associated withthe user system 14 may be requested to enter information such asidentification information, demographic information, and userpreferences. The registration process is optional and not necessary forthe present invention.

Next, the user system 14, and more specifically the media identificationclient 32, provides identification parameters for each of the mediafiles in the user's media collection to the central system 16 (step102). As discussed above, the identification parameters may include, butare not limited to, metadata, such as ID3 tags, describing the mediacontent of the media files; fingerprints of the media content of themedia files; samples of the media content of the media files; filenames; directory names; or the like or any combination thereof. Prior toproviding the identification parameters to the central system 16, themedia identification client 32 obtains the identification parameters byprocessing the media files. More specifically, metadata describing themedia content may be obtained from the headers of the media files.Fingerprints may be generated based on an analysis of one or moresegments of the media content of each of the media files. For example,acoustic fingerprints may be generated for song files based on computinga Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) for one or more segments of the song, bydetermining beats-per-minute for the song, or the like. Samples of themedia content of the media files may be generated by extracting one ormore segments of the media content from the media files.

In response to receiving the identification parameters, the centralsystem 16, and more specifically the media identification application42, attempts to identify the media content of the media files based onthe identification parameters (step 104). The details of the operationof the media identification application 42 are not central to thepresent invention. However, in general, identification may be performedby comparing the identification parameters of the media files to likeidentification parameters of reference media files, wherein thereference media files or the identification parameters for the referencemedia files may be stored by or in association with the central system16. For example, the media identification application 42 may compare thefingerprints of the media files from the user's media collection tofingerprints of the reference media files. As a result, if the mediacontent of the media file corresponds to the media content of one of thereference media files, the fingerprints will substantially match suchthat the media content of the media file is identified as the mediacontent of the one of the reference media files. Likewise, samples ofthe media files may be used to generate fingerprints for the mediafiles, wherein the fingerprints may be used to identify the mediacontent of the media files. In addition or alternatively, metadata, suchas ID3 tags, file names, directory names, and the like may be used toidentify the media content of the media files as the media content ofones of the reference media files.

For a more detailed discussion of generating fingerprints for a song andidentifying the song based on the fingerprints, see U.S. Pat. No.6,990,453, entitled SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR RECOGNIZING SOUND AND MUSICSIGNALS IN HIGH NOISE AND DISTORTION, issued Jan. 24, 2006, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Once the media content of the media files in the user's media collectionis identified, the GUIDs for the media files and optionally metadata forthe media files may then be provided to the user system 14 from thecentral system 16 (step 106). It should be noted that the mediaidentification application 42 may be unable to identify the mediacontent of some of the media files in the user's media collection, aswill be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. Once the GUIDs forthe media files are received by the media identification client 32 atthe user system 14, the media identification client 32 generates theproxy information for each of the media files. For each media file, theproxy information includes the GUID or other identifier identifying themedia content of the corresponding media file and, optionally,information identifying the encoding algorithm and one or more qualityparameters for the corresponding media file. Note that the media fileshaving unidentified media content may optionally be ignored such thatproxy information is only generated for the media files havingidentified media content.

If metadata is received by the user system 14 in step 106, the metadatamay be stored, for example, in the headers of the associated media filesor used to correct the metadata already stored for the associated mediafiles. For example, if a song is an MP3 file, the metadata may be usedto create or correct the ID3 tags stored in the MP3 file. In addition,the metadata may be used to generate new file names for the media filesor the like as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art uponreading this disclosure. At this point, steps 102-106 may be repeatedwhen new media files are added to the user's media collection or whendesired by the user (step 108).

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary synchronization process between theportable media player 12 and the user system 14 during which proxyinformation is provided to the portable media player 12 according to oneembodiment of the present invention. During the synchronization process,the portable media player 12 is docked to the user system 14 via eithera wired or wireless connection. Optionally, select media files from theuser's media collection may be transferred to the portable media player12 from the user system 14 (step 200). The select media files may beselected by the user associated with the user system 14 and the portablemedia player 12. The select media files may alternatively oradditionally be media files purchased or otherwise obtained since aprevious synchronization process. Once received by the portable mediaplayer 12, the media files are stored in the media database 28 (step202).

According to the present invention, the user system 14 provides proxyinformation representing the media files in the user's media collection,or a subset thereof, to the portable media player 12 (step 204). If theportable media player 12 has sufficient storage space in the storageunit 26, the proxy information representing all of the media files inthe user's media collection, or all of the media files in the user'smedia collection other than the media files already stored in the mediadatabase 28 of the portable media player 12, may be transferred to theportable media player 12. Alternatively, the proxy informationtransferred to the portable media player 12 may be the proxy informationrepresenting a subset of the media files in the user's media collection.For example, the proxy information may be the proxy informationrepresenting media files selected by the user. As another example, theproxy information may be the proxy information representing media filesselected by the user system 14 based on a play history of the portablemedia player 12, a play history of the user system 14, user preferencesdefined by the user associated with the portable media player 12 and theuser system 14, or the like or any combination thereof. As yet anotherexample, the proxy information may be the proxy information representingmedia files selected by the user system 14 at random. Once received bythe portable media player 12, the proxy information is stored in theproxy information database 30 (step 206).

According to the present invention, the proxy information stored by theportable media player 12 is used by the portable media player 12 toobtain corresponding media content from secondary systems, such as otherportable media players or other user systems, via local wirelesscommunication. More specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 4, a number ofsecondary systems 44-48 may be within a local wireless coverage area 50defined by a local wireless communication range of the portable mediaplayer 12 while the portable media player 12 is undocked from the usersystem 14. In this example, the secondary systems 44-48 are morespecifically portable media players 44 and 46 and a user system 48.Preferably, the portable media players 44 and 46 are similar to theportable media player 12, and the user system 48 is similar to the usersystem 14.

In operation, the portable media player 12, and more specifically, thenetworking function 22, operates to scan the local wireless coveragearea 50 of the portable media player 12 for secondary systems, which inthis example are the portable media players 44 and 46 and the usersystem 48. The scan of the local wireless coverage area 50 may beperformed periodically or upon request by the user of the portable mediaplayer 12. Once the secondary systems 44-48 are detected, communicationbetween the portable media player 12 and the secondary systems 44-48 isestablished. The details of establishing communication vary depending onthe local wireless communication standard used and will be apparent toone of ordinary skill in the art upon reading this disclosure.

Once communication is established, the portable media player 12 providesthe proxy information, or a subset thereof, stored in the proxyinformation database 30 to the secondary systems 44-48. In response, thesecondary systems 44-48 each determine whether media files having mediacontent matching the media content identified by the proxy informationare stored thereon. The secondary systems 44-48 then providenotifications to the portable media player 12 to notify the portablemedia player 12 of media files stored on the secondary systems 44-48matching the proxy information. In one embodiment, the portable mediaplayer 12 may then automatically download the matching media files fromthe secondary systems 44-48. In another embodiment, the matching mediafiles may be streamed to the portable media player 12 from one of thesecondary systems 44-48 such that the media content of the media filesmay be played by the portable media player 12 while the matching mediafiles are delivered to the portable media player 12. When streaming isdesired, scheduling may be implemented such that, for example, only onemedia file is streamed to the portable media player 12 at a time. In yetanother embodiment, the portable media player 12 may notify the user ofthe portable media player 12 of the matching media files, wherein theuser can select whether to download the matching media files, stream thematching media files, or ignore the matching media files.

FIG. 5 is a more detailed illustration of the interaction of theportable media players 12 and 44 of FIG. 4 according to one embodimentof the present invention. Note that while this discussion focuses on theinteraction with the portable media player 44, the discussion is equallyapplicable to any of the secondary systems 44-48 of FIG. 4. In general,the portable media players 12 and 44 first interact to establish localwireless communication (step 300). The portable media player 12 thenprovides proxy information representing one or more media files in theuser's media collection to the portable media player 44 (step 302). Theproxy information provided to the portable media player 44 may be theproxy information representing media files requested by the user of theportable media player 12, all of the proxy information stored in theproxy information database 30, all of the proxy information stored inthe proxy information database 30 other than the proxy informationrepresenting the media files stored in the media database 28 of theportable media player 12, or a subset of the proxy informationrepresenting media files selected by the portable media player 12 basedon criteria such as, but not limited to, a play history of the portablemedia player 12.

In response, the portable media player 44 processes the proxyinformation to find matching media files stored on the portable mediaplayer 44 (step 304). A matching media file is a media file stored bythe portable media player 44 having media content matching the mediacontent identified by the proxy information representing one of themedia files in the user's media collection. More specifically, in oneembodiment, a matching media file may be a media file having a GUIDmatching the GUID included in the proxy information representing one ofthe media files in the user's media collection. In addition, in order toprevent the user from obtaining a higher quality version of the mediacontent than the user has in his or her media collection, a matchingmedia file may be limited to a media file having a matching GUID and aquality that is essentially equivalent to or lesser than the qualityidentified by the quality parameters in the proxy information.Optionally, the matching media file may be required to be encoding withone of a number of encoding algorithms known to the portable mediaplayer 12. For example, the portable media player 12 may not be capableof playing audio content encoded in the AAC format. As such, a mediafile encoded in the AAC format that is otherwise a matching media filewould not be identified as a matching media file since the portablemedia player 12 is unable to play the media file.

It should be noted that while the discussion herein focuses on GUIDs,the proxy information may alternatively include fingerprints identifyingthe media content, samples of the media content, metadata describing themedia content, or any other information identifying the media content orany combination thereof. The portable media player 44 may then findmatching media files based on this information.

In another embodiment, for each media file represented by the proxyinformation, the proxy information includes information identifying theencoding algorithm and one or more quality parameters. As such, in orderto match the proxy information for one of the media files in the user'smedia collection, a media file stored on the portable media player 44may be required to be encoded with the encoding algorithm identified inthe proxy information and have quality parameters essentially equivalentto or lesser than the quality parameters identified in the proxyinformation.

In another embodiment, the portable media player 44 may have access to anumber of encoding algorithms. As such, a matching media file may berequired to only have matching media content. The matching media filemay be of higher or lower quality than the corresponding media file inthe user's media collection. When the matching media file is requestedby the portable media player 12, the portable media player 44 may thengenerate a copy of the matching media file in a desired format andquality using the encoding algorithm, and optionally the qualityparameters, identified in the proxy information.

Once the matching media files on the portable media player 44 areidentified, the portable media player 44 generates and provides anotification to the portable media player 12 (step 306). Thenotification notifies the portable media player 12 of the matching mediafiles stored by the portable media player 44. In one embodiment, thenotification includes the GUIDs of the matching media files.

In this embodiment, the automation function 24 (FIG. 1) of the portablemedia player 12 is configured such that matching media files areautomatically obtained from the portable media player 44 in response tothe notification. Thus, the portable media player 12 provides a requestfor the matching media files to the portable media player 44 (step 308).In response, the matching media files are provided to the portable mediaplayer 12 (step 310). Alternatively, as discussed above, copies of thematching media files generated by the portable media player 44 in thedesired format and quality may be provided to the portable media player12.

Step 310 may vary depending on the particular embodiment. In oneembodiment, the matching media files are automatically streamed from theportable media player 44 to the portable media player 12 such that thematching media files are played by the portable media player 12 as theyare delivered. Note that in this embodiment, the portable media player12 may implement a scheduling algorithm to schedule streaming of thematching media files. For example, the portable media player 12 mayschedule the streaming of the matching media files such that only one ofthe matching media files is streamed to the portable media player 12 ata time.

In another embodiment, the portable media player 12, and specificallythe automation function 24, may be configured to automatically downloadthe matching media files upon receiving the notification in step 306. Assuch, steps 308 and 310 operate to automatically download the matchingmedia files from the portable media player 44 to the portable mediaplayer 12. The downloaded media files are then stored in the mediadatabase 28 of the portable media player 12 and may be played whendesired by the user.

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 5 and illustrates the interaction of theportable media players 12 and 44 of FIG. 4 according to anotherembodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the portablemedia player 12, and more specifically the automation function 24, isconfigured to notify the user of the portable media player 12 of thematching media files found on the portable media player 44, wherein theuser determines whether to download, stream, or ignore the matchingmedia files. Note that while this discussion focuses on the interactionwith the portable media player 44, the discussion is equally applicableto any of the secondary systems 44-48 of FIG. 4.

First, the portable media players 12 and 44 interact to establish localwireless communication (step 400). The portable media player 12 thenprovides proxy information representing one or more media files in theuser's media collection to the portable media player 44 (step 402). Theproxy information provided to the portable media player 44 may be proxyinformation representing media files requested by the user of theportable media player 12, all of the proxy information stored in theproxy information database 30, all of the proxy information stored inthe proxy information database 30 other than the proxy informationrepresenting the media files stored in the media database 28 of theportable media player 12, or a subset of the proxy informationrepresenting media files selected by the portable media player 12 basedon criteria such as, but not limited to, a play history of the portablemedia player 12.

In response, the portable media player 44 processes the proxyinformation to find matching media files stored on the portable mediaplayer 44 (step 404). Once the matching media files on the portablemedia player 44 are identified, the portable media player 44 generatesand provides a notification to the portable media player 12 (step 406).The notification notifies the portable media player 12 of the matchingmedia files stored by the portable media player 44. In one embodiment,the notification includes the GUIDs of the matching media files.

In this embodiment, automation function 24 of the portable media player12 is configured to notify the user of the portable media player 12 ofthe matching media files (step 408). The manner in which the user isnotified of the matching media files may take numerous forms, as will beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon reading thisdisclosure. For example, an audio or visual alert may be provided to theuser to notify the user that matching media files have been found. Theuser may then view information identifying the media content of thematching media files, such as the titles of the media content of thematching media files, via a user interface of the portable media player12. In another embodiment, steps 400-406 may be performed as abackground operation, and information identifying the matching mediafiles may be presented to the user via a graphical user interface of theportable media player 12 along with information identifying the mediafiles stored in the media database 28 of the portable media player 12.An exemplary graphical user interface for notifying the user of matchingmedia files is illustrated in FIGS. 7A-7D, which are discussed below.

Upon notifying the user of the matching media files, the user may selectone or more of the matching media files to obtain from the portablemedia player 44. In one embodiment, the user selects one or more of thematching media files to stream to the portable media player 12. Theselected media files may then be requested from the portable mediaplayer 44 (step 410). In response, the portable media player 44 streamsthe selected media files to the portable media player 12 (step 412).Note that when the selected media files are streamed to the portablemedia player 12, the selected media files are played as they aredelivered. Thus, if more than one matching media file is selected, thedelivery of the matching media files may be scheduled such that, forexample, only one of the matching media files is streamed to theportable media player 12 at a time. Further, when streamed, the selectedmedia files may or may not be permanently stored at the portable mediaplayer 12.

In another embodiment, the user selects one or more of the matchingmedia files to download to the portable media player 12. The selectedmedia files may then be requested from the portable media player 44(step 410). In response, the portable media player 44 downloads theselected media files to the portable media player 12, where thedownloaded media files are stored in the media database 28 of theportable media player 12 (step 412). Alternatively, as discussed above,the portable media player 44 may first generate copies of the selectedmedia files in the desired format and quality and then download thecopies of the matching media files to the portable media player 12 instep 412. Once stored, the downloaded media files may be selected andplayed by the portable media player 12.

FIGS. 7A-7D illustrate an exemplary graphical user interface for theportable media player 12 for notifying the user of matching media filesfound on secondary systems, such as the portable media player 44, asdiscussed above with respect to FIG. 6. As illustrated in FIG. 7A, theuser may first select whether he or she desires to play music, playvideos, or adjust the settings of the portable media player 12. Notethat the settings may include the settings of the automation function 24(FIG. 1). The settings of the automation function 24 may enable the userto define settings for each media file represented by the proxyinformation, settings for each of a number of groups of media filesrepresented by the proxy information, or general settings to be appliedto all media files represented by the proxy information. The automationfunction settings define whether the media files matching the proxyinformation are to be automatically downloaded or streamed from thesecondary system or whether the user is to be notified of the matchingmedia files. In this example, the automation function 24 is configuredto notify the user of matching media files. However, the same or asimilar graphical user interface may be used to enable the user to playmedia files automatically downloaded to the portable media player 12from the secondary devices 44-48.

In this example, the user has selected MUSIC. Thus, as illustrated inFIG. 7B, the user may then select whether he or she desires to view alist of play lists, artists, albums, songs, genres, or remote mediafiles. The remote media files are all matching music files found on thesecondary systems 44-48 currently within the local wireless coveragearea 50 (FIG. 4) of the portable media player 12. If the user selectsplaylists, a number of playlists generated by the user may then bepresented to the user. If the user selects artists, a list of artistsfor which songs are stored on the portable media player 12 or for whichsongs have been found on one or more of the secondary systems 44-48 maythen be presented to the user. In a similar fashion, lists of albums,songs, genres, and remote media files may be presented to the user ifselected.

In this example, the user selects ARTISTS. As a result, a list ofartists is presented to the user, as illustrated in FIG. 7C. The list ofartists includes artists for which songs are available. Songs areavailable if corresponding media files are stored on the portable mediaplayer 12 or have been found on the secondary systems 44-48. The usermay then select an artist to view a list of songs available for theselected artist. In this example, the user has selected ARTIST 1. As aresult, a list of available songs for the selected artist is presentedto the user, as illustrated in FIG. 7D. Again, the available songsinclude songs stored in the media database 28 of the portable mediaplayer 12 and remote media files found on the secondary systems 44-48.In this example, there are three remote media files for the selectedartist, and the remote media files are identified by being displayed initalics. The remote media files may additionally or alternatively beidentified using a different font, different color, some otherindicator, or any combination thereof. In this example, the remote mediafiles are additionally identified by displaying “REMOTE” beside the songtitles.

The remote media files may be selected by the user and, in response,obtained from the corresponding secondary system 44-48. The user mayselect one or more of the remote media files such that they are streamedto the portable media player 12 or such that they are downloaded to theportable media player 12, as described above. Note that the remote filesmay also be selected indirectly by the user. For example, the user mayselect ARTIST 1 and instruct the portable media player 12 to play allavailable songs including the remote media files for ARTIST 1. Inresponse, the portable media player 12 may either download the remotemedia files from the secondary systems 44-48 or have the remote mediafiles streamed to the portable media player 12 for playback.

In a similar fashion, the user may be notified of matching video filesfound on the secondary systems 44-48. Further, in addition to thegraphical user interface illustrated in FIGS. 7A-7D, audible alerts maybe provided to the user to notify the user that matching media fileshave been found. In response to the audible alert, the user may interactwith the portable media player 12 using, for example, the graphical userinterface of FIGS. 7A-7D to select desired ones of the matching mediafiles to either stream or download from the secondary systems 44-48.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the portablemedia player 12 of FIG. 1. In general, the portable media player 12includes a control system 52 having associated memory 54. The memory 54operates to store software instructing the portable media player 12 tooperate according to the present invention. In this example, thesynchronization engine 20, the network function 22, and the automationfunction 24 are at least partially implemented in software and stored inthe memory 54. The portable media player 12 also includes the storageunit 26, which may be, for example, a hard-disc drive or the like. Thedatabases 28 and 30 (FIG. 1) may be implemented in the storage unit 26.Alternatively, the databases 28 and 30, or a portion thereof, may beimplemented in the memory 54. The portable media player 12 also includesa communication interface 56. The communication interface 56 enablescommunication with the user system 14 (FIG. 1) via a wireless or wiredinterface. In addition, the communication interface 56 includes a localwireless interface enabling local wireless communication with thesecondary devices 44-48 (FIG. 4) within the local wireless coverage area50 of the portable media player 12. Note that a single local wirelessinterface may be used for both docking the portable media player 12 tothe user system 14 and establishing local wireless communication withthe secondary devices 44-48 when undocked from the user system 14. Theportable media player 12 also includes a user interface 58, which mayinclude a display, speakers, input buttons or dials, or the like.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the user system14 of FIG. 1. In general, the user system 14 includes a control system60 having associated memory 62. The memory 62 operates to store softwareinstructing the user system 14 to operate according to the presentinvention. In this example, the media identification client 32 and thesynchronization engine 34 are at least partially implemented in softwareand stored in the memory 62. The user system 14 also includes thestorage unit 36, which may be, for example, a hard-disc drive or thelike. The databases 38 and 40 (FIG. 1) may be implemented in the storageunit 36. Alternatively, the databases 38 and 40, or a portion thereof,may be implemented in the memory 62. The user system 14 also includes acommunication interface 64. The communication interface 64 may include afirst interface communicatively coupling the user system 14 to thenetwork 18 (FIG. 1) and a second interface providing either wireless orwired communication with the portable media player 12 (FIG. 1) during adocking, or synchronization, process. In addition, the user system 14includes a user interface 66, which may include a display, speakers, oneor more input devices, or the like.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the centralsystem 16 of FIG. 1. In general, the central system 16 includes acontrol system 68 having associated memory 70. The memory 70 operates tostore software instructing the central system 16 to operate according tothe present invention. In this example, at least a portion of the mediaidentification application 42 is implemented in software and is storedin the memory 70. The central system 16 also includes a communicationinterface 72 communicatively coupling the central system 16 to thenetwork 18 (FIG. 1). In addition, the central system 16 includes a userinterface 74, which may include a display, speakers, one or more inputdevices, or the like.

Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modificationsto the preferred embodiments of the present invention. All suchimprovements and modifications are considered within the scope of theconcepts disclosed herein and the claims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A portable media player comprising: a localwireless communication interface adapted to communicate with a secondarysystem within a local wireless coverage area of the portable mediaplayer; a digital storage device adapted to store one or more mediafiles from a media collection and proxy information representing all ofthe media files from the media collection, wherein the one or more mediafiles and proxy information are received by the portable media playerfrom an associated user system where the media collection is stored andaccess to the media files of the media collection by the portable mediaplayer is restricted to a plurality of media files from the mediacollection represented by the proxy information; and a control systemassociated with the local wireless communication interface, the digitalstorage device, and a processor, and when executed is adapted to:provide the proxy information to the secondary system within the localwireless coverage area of the portable media player the media files; andreceive a notification from the secondary system of at least one of aplurality of matching media files stored by the secondary system.
 2. Theportable media player of claim 1, wherein the proxy informationcomprises information identifying media content of the media files. 3.The portable media player of claim 2, wherein the matching media file isa media file stored by the secondary system having media contentcorresponding to the media content identified by the proxy informationfor the at least one of the plurality of media files.
 4. The portablemedia player of claim 1, wherein the local wireless communicationinterface is further adapted to communicatively couple the portablemedia player to an associated user system which stores the mediacollection during a synchronization process, and the control system isfurther adapted to receive the proxy information for each of the mediafiles from the associated user system during the synchronization processand store the proxy information in the digital storage device.
 5. Theportable media player of claim 1, further comprising a secondcommunication interface adapted to communicatively couple the portablemedia player to an associated user system which stores the mediacollection during a synchronization process, and the control system isfurther adapted to receive the proxy information for the media filesfrom the associated user system during the synchronization process andstore the proxy information for each of the media files in the digitalstorage device.
 6. The portable media player of claim 1, wherein inresponse to the notification from the secondary system of the at leastone of the plurality of matching media files, the control system isfurther adapted to automatically download the at least one of theplurality of matching media files from the secondary system.
 7. Theportable media player of claim 1, wherein in response to thenotification from the secondary system of the at least one of theplurality of matching media file, the control system is further adaptedto: provide a request to the secondary system to stream the at least oneof the plurality of matching media file; and receive the at least one ofthe plurality of matching media file as a stream from the secondarysystem.
 8. The portable media player of claim 1, wherein in response tothe notification from the secondary system of the at least one of theplurality of matching media file, the control system is further adaptedto obtain the at least one of the plurality of matching media file. 9.The portable media player of claim 8, wherein in order to obtain the atleast one of the plurality of matching media files, the control systemis further adapted to download the at least one of the plurality ofmatching media files from the secondary system.
 10. The portable mediaplayer of claim 8, wherein in order to obtain the at least one of theplurality of matching media files, the control system is further adaptedto request the at least one of the plurality of matching media filesfrom the secondary system and receive the at least one of the pluralityof matching media files from the secondary system as streaming content.11. The portable media player of claim 1, wherein the control system isfurther adapted to detect the secondary system within a local wirelesscoverage area of the portable media player, and establish communicationwith the secondary system.
 12. The portable media player of claim 1,wherein the secondary system is another portable media player.
 13. Theportable media player of claim 1, wherein the control system is furtheradapted to: detect the secondary system within a local wireless coveragearea of the portable media player; and automatically provide the proxyinformation representing all of the media files to the secondary systemin response to detecting the secondary system within the local wirelesscoverage area of the portable media player.
 14. The portable mediaplayer of claim 1, wherein the control system is further adapted to:detect the secondary system within a local wireless coverage area of theportable media player; and automatically provide the proxy informationrepresenting the media files to the secondary system in response todetecting the secondary system within the local wireless coverage areaof the portable media player.
 15. The portable media player of claim 1,wherein an action to be taken by the control system in response to thenotification of the at least one of the plurality of matching mediafiles at the secondary system is defined for a plurality of media filesrepresented by the proxy information.
 16. The portable media player ofclaim 1, wherein an action to be taken by the control system in responseto the notification of the at least one of the plurality of matchingmedia files at the secondary system is independently defined for each ofat least two subsets of the media files represented by the proxyinformation.
 17. The portable media player of claim 1, wherein an actionto be taken by the control system in response to the notification of theat least one of the plurality of matching media files at the secondarysystem is independently defined for each of a plurality of the mediafiles represented by the proxy information.
 18. The portable mediaplayer of claim 1, wherein the control system is further adapted topresent at least one of the plurality of matching media files in aplaylist.
 19. The portable media player of claim 1, wherein the controlsystem is further adapted to present the plurality of media files in aplurality of playlists.
 20. A method of operation of a portable mediaplayer comprising: storing, at the portable media player, copies of oneor more media files from a media collection; storing, at the portablemedia player, proxy information representing all of the media files fromthe media collection, wherein the one or more media files and proxyinformation are received by the portable media player from an associateduser system where the media collection is stored and access to the mediafiles of the media collection by the portable media player is restrictedto a plurality of media files from the media collection represented bythe proxy information; establishing communication with a secondarysystem within a local wireless coverage area of the portable mediaplayer via a local wireless communication interface; providing the proxyinformation to the secondary system; and receiving a notification fromthe secondary system of at least one of a plurality of matching mediafiles stored by the secondary system, the at least one of the pluralityof the matching media files identified by the secondary system based onthe proxy information provided to the secondary system.
 21. The methodof claim 20, further comprising: displaying the at least one of theplurality of matching media files in a playlist.
 22. A portable mediaplayer comprising: a local wireless communication interface adapted tobe in communication with a secondary system within a local wirelesscoverage area of the portable media player; a digital storage deviceadapted to store copies of one or more media files from a mediacollection and proxy information representing all of the media filesfrom the media collection, wherein the one or more media files and proxyinformation are received by the portable media player from an associateduser system where the media collection is stored and access to the mediafiles of the media collection by the portable media player is restrictedto a plurality of media files from the media collection represented bythe proxy information, and wherein the proxy information comprisesinformation identifying each media file and information identifying atleast one quality parameter of the media file; and a control systemassociated with the local wireless communication interface, the digitalstorage device, and a processor, and when executed is adapted to:provide the proxy information for the media files to the secondarysystem within the local wireless coverage area of the portable mediaplayer; receive a notification from the secondary system of at least oneof a plurality of matching media files stored by the secondary system,the matching media file identified by the secondary system based on theproxy information for the at least one of the plurality of media files;and obtain the at least one of the plurality of matching media filesfrom the secondary system.
 23. The portable media player of claim 22,wherein the proxy information comprises the at least one qualityparameter, and a quality of the at least one of the plurality ofmatching media files obtained from the secondary system is no greaterthan that identified by the at least one quality parameter.
 24. Theportable media player of claim 22, wherein the proxy informationcomprises information identifying at least one desired encoding format,and the at least one of the plurality of matching media files obtainedfrom the secondary system is encoded in one of the at least one desiredencoding formats.
 25. The portable media player of claim 24, wherein theat least one desired encoding format is an encoding format of the mediafile from the plurality of media files represented by the proxyinformation.
 26. The portable media player of claim 24, wherein the atleast one desired encoding format is one of at least one encoding formatplayable by the portable media player.
 27. The portable media player ofclaim 22, wherein the control system is further adapted to display aplurality of media files in a playlist.
 28. A portable media playercomprising: a local wireless interface adapted to communicate with asecondary system within a local wireless coverage area of the portablemedia player; a digital storage device adapted to store proxyinformation representing all media files from a media collection,wherein one or more media files stored on the digital storage device andproxy information are received by the portable media player from anassociated user system where the media collection is stored and accessto the media files of the media collection by the portable media playeris restricted to a plurality of media files from the media collectionrepresented by the proxy information; and a control system associatedwith the local wireless communication interface, the digital storagedevice, and a processor, and when executed is adapted to: provide theproxy information to the secondary system within the local wirelesscoverage area of the portable media player; and receive a notificationfrom the secondary system of at least one of a plurality of matchingmedia files stored by the secondary system.
 29. The portable mediaplayer of claim 28, wherein the control system is further adapted to:receive, from the secondary system, a stream of the at least one of theplurality of matching media files for playback.
 30. A portable mediaplayer comprising: a local wireless communication interface adapted toreceive communications from a secondary system within a local wirelesscoverage area of the portable media player; a digital storage deviceadapted to store proxy information representing all of the media filesof a media collection such that the portable media player is able toaccess a plurality of media files from the media collection representedby the proxy information, wherein one or more media files stored on thedigital storage device and the proxy information are received by theportable media player from an associated user system where the mediacollection is stored and access to the plurality of media files from themedia collection by the portable media player is restricted to aplurality of media files from the media collection represented by theproxy information; and a control system associated with the localwireless communication interface, the digital storage device, and aprocessor, and when executed is adapted to: provide the proxyinformation to the secondary system within the local wireless coveragearea of the portable media player; receive a notification from thesecondary system of at least one of a plurality of the matching mediafiles stored by the secondary system; and receive metadata and a streamof the at least one of the plurality of matching media files from thesecondary system.
 31. The portable media player of claim 30, wherein thecontrol system is further adapted to generate file names for the mediafiles using the metadata.
 32. The portable media player of claim 30,wherein the control system is further adapted to: scan a local wirelesscoverage area of the portable media player to find secondary systems.33. The portable media player of claim 30, wherein the control system isfurther adapted to present a plurality of media files in a playlist. 34.The portable media player of claim 30, wherein the control system isfurther adapted to: provide an option to either stream the at least oneof the plurality of the matching media files or ignore the at least oneof the plurality of matching media files.
 35. The portable media playerof claim 30, wherein a quality of the streamed at least one of theplurality of matching media files is essentially equivalent to qualityparameters in the proxy information.
 36. The portable media player ofclaim 30, wherein the control system is further adapted to: implement ascheduling algorithm to schedule streaming of the at least one of theplurality of matching media files.
 37. The portable media player ofclaim 30, wherein the notification identifying the at least one of theplurality of matching media files of the secondary system is presentedin a graphical user interface.
 38. The portable media player of claim30, wherein the stream of the at least one of the plurality of matchingmedia files is played as it is delivered.
 39. The portable media playerof claim 30, wherein the stream of the at least one of the plurality ofmatching media files is not permanently stored at the portable mediaplayer.
 40. The portable media player of claim 30, wherein the stream ofthe at least one of the plurality of matching media files is video. 41.The portable media player of claim 30, wherein remote media files aredisplayed in a graphical user interface in different font than locallystored media files.
 42. A media player comprising: a local wirelesscommunication interface adapted to receive communications from asecondary system within a local wireless coverage area of the portablemedia player; a digital storage device adapted to store proxyinformation representing all of the media files of a media collectionsuch that the portable media player is able to access a plurality ofmedia files from the media collection represented by the proxyinformation, wherein one or more media files stored on the digitalstorage device and the proxy information are received by the portablemedia player from an associated user system where the media collectionis stored and access to the plurality of media files from the mediacollection by the portable media player is restricted to a plurality ofmedia files from the media collection represented by the proxyinformation; and a control system associated with the local wirelesscommunication interface, the digital storage device, and a processor,and when executed is adapted to: provide the proxy information to thesecondary system within the local wireless coverage area of the portablemedia player, wherein the proxy information includes quality parameters;receive a notification from the secondary system of at least one of aplurality of matching media files stored by the secondary system;present the at least one of the plurality of matching media files in aplaylist on a graphical user interface; and receive metadata and astream of the at least one of the plurality of matching media file fromthe secondary system.
 43. The media player of claim 42, wherein the atleast one of the plurality of matching media files is video.
 44. A mediaplayer comprising: a local wireless communication interface adapted tocommunicate with a secondary system within a local wireless coveragearea of the portable media player; a digital storage device adapted tostore one or more media files from a media collection and proxyinformation representing all of the media files of the media collection,wherein the one or more media files and proxy information are receivedby the portable media player from an associated user system where themedia collection is stored and access to the media files of the mediacollection by the media player is restricted to a plurality of mediafiles of the media collection represented by the proxy information; anda control system associated with the local wireless communicationinterface, the digital storage device, and a processor, and whenexecuted is adapted to: provide the proxy information to the secondarysystem within the local wireless coverage area of the portable mediaplayer; and receive a notification from the secondary system of at leastone of a plurality of matching media files stored by the secondarysystem.